Report No. 14
13. Increasing power of single judge.-
The Judges and members of the Bar who placed their views before the Commission laid stress upon the need for increasing the strength of the High Court by one judge. It was said that it was not possible for a single division bench to get through all the work that had to be heard by a bench. In our opinion, this difficulty can be met by increasing the powers of a single judge. This will greatly help in reducing the arrears.
14. The powers of a single judge of the High Court are far too low. He cannot hear any civil appeal or revision which is valued over Rs. 2,000 or any criminal matter in which a sentence of imprisonment exceeding one year has been passed. This is anomalous when we remember that District Judges in the State can hear civil appeals below Rs. 5,000 in value, and as Sessions Judges decided appeals from a sentence of imprisonment for four years.
If by reason of special local conditions it is not thought desirable to increase the single judge's power to the full extent recommended by us earlier, his powers may be enlarged so as to enable him to dispose of all civil and criminal revisions, all appeals valued below Rs. 5,000 and all criminal matters in which a sentence of seven years' imprisonment has been passed. This will result in a substantial improvement in the state of the file of the High Court. This will be apparent from the two Tables set out below showing the value of the appeals filed in the High Court and the number of days on which it was necessary to constitute division benches to dispose of particular classes of work. It is obvious that at present a division bench has to be constituted to dispose of what is really petty work.
Table No. 3
1954 |
1955 |
1956 |
|
Regular First Appeals |
|
||
Below Rs. 5,000 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
Between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 10,000 |
11 |
15 |
16 |
Above Rs. 10,000 |
9 |
17 |
12 |
Regular Second Appeals |
|
||
Below Rs. 1,000 |
94 |
123 |
127 |
Between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 2,000 |
16 |
19 |
21 |
Between Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 5,000 |
1 |
16 |
18 |
Table No. 4
Number of days for which |
|||
Division Benches sat |
|||
1954 |
1955 |
1956 |
|
Second Appeals |
38 |
47 |
51 |
Appeals Against orders |
18 |
29 |
28 |
Civil Revisions |
94 |
70 |
62 |
Criminal Appeals |
99 |
83 |
87 |
Criminal Revisions |
101 |
32 |
71 |
15. Hours of work.-
We were informed when we visited Gauhati that the Judges of the High Court sat in Court for only four hours every day. This practice seems to have started at a time when there was not enough work and there is no warrant for its continuance. By raising the number of working hours to five as in other High Courts there will be an increase of six hundred judge-hours on the basis that all the three Judges work for two hundred days in the year. There will thus be an addition of one hundred and twenty Judge-days in the year. If the enhancement of the powers of single Judges and the increase in the number of working hours fails to bring the pending file under control, an additional Judge may be appointed for a short term.
16. Delays in filling vacancies.-
The inordinate delays that have occurred in filling up vacancies in the High Court constitute yet another major reason for the arrears. A former Registrar of the High Court stated in his evidence that "There were only two Judges for more than eighteen months." According to the information made available to us there has been invariably a gap of about eight or nine months between the retirement of a Judge and the assumption of office by another in his place.
17. Preparation of paper books.-
Delays in disposals were said to have also been occasioned by difficulties in getting paper books prepared in time. The Government press in Shillong had to give priority to other work-and typed paper books could not be prepared as the High Court was understaffed. This in our view should not be a ground for delay. The establishment of a branch press at Gauhati, the entrustment of the work to competent private printers, or an increase in the number of typists and other subordinate staff in the High Court are all measures which can be easily taken. The last two have the advantage of being capable of being implemented immediately.
18. The Table below shows the number of district and sessions judges and subordinate judges who worked during the years 1954, 1955 and 1956 and the work turned out by them.
Table No. 5
Nature of Proceeding |
District and Sessions Judge |
Subordinate Judges and Assistant Session judges |
|||||
1954 |
1955 |
1956 |
1954 |
1955 |
1956 |
||
Civil Suits |
P |
25 |
41 |
31 |
1463 |
1308 |
1435 |
I |
65 |
67 |
37 |
729 |
1151 |
718 |
|
D |
23 |
26 |
25 |
766 |
688 |
708 |
|
B |
14 |
18 |
24 |
835 |
760 |
584 |
|
A |
27 |
13 |
11 |
473 |
675 |
644 |
|
Civil Misc. Cases and Petitions |
P |
72 |
70 |
143 |
240 |
263 |
283 |
I |
316 |
357 |
284 |
455 |
487 |
498 |
|
D |
220 |
149 |
159 |
420 |
441 |
463 |
|
B |
63 |
137 |
210 |
251 |
265 |
186 |
|
A |
7 |
6 |
1 |
12 |
18 |
22 |
|
Civil Appeals |
P |
379 |
230 |
304 |
723 |
741 |
713 |
I |
243 |
717 |
263 |
511 |
861 |
727 |
|
D |
229 |
367 |
214 |
409 |
305 |
282 |
|
B |
117 |
128 |
160 |
638 |
508 |
613 |
|
A |
113 |
176 |
127 |
103 |
205 |
319 |
|
Civil Misc. Appeals |
P |
41 |
42 |
55 |
93 |
76 |
100 |
I |
78 |
116 |
121 |
177 |
233 |
231 |
|
D |
50 |
68 |
102 |
183 |
140 |
152 |
|
B |
30 |
50 |
68 |
75 |
97 |
105 |
|
A |
12 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
|
Session Cases |
P |
152 |
107 |
156 |
48 |
105 |
79 |
I |
446 |
419 |
488 |
.. |
.. |
2 |
|
D |
197 |
215 |
337 |
237 |
181 |
169 |
|
B |
105 |
144 |
139 |
99 |
63 |
75 |
|
A |
2 |
12 |
2 |
6 |
16 |
4 |
|
Criminal Appeals |
P |
430 |
471 |
378 |
.. |
.. |
.. |
I |
978 |
889 |
1079 |
.. |
.. |
.. |
|
D |
937 |
1020 |
990 |
.. |
.. |
10 |
|
B |
471 |
345 |
442 |
.. |
.. |
9 |
|
A |
. |
33 |
.. |
.. |
.. |
... |
|
Criminal Revisions |
P |
79 |
82 |
127 |
.. |
.. |
.. |
I |
231 |
305 |
324 |
.. |
.. |
.. |
|
D |
228 |
221 |
335 |
.. |
.. |
.. |
|
B |
82 |
127 |
110 |
.. |
.. |
.. |
Note.- (1) The figures shown in the disposals columns do not include disposed by transfers.
(2) There are no criminal revisions pending over a year.
(3) Five officers worked as District and Sessions Judge in 1954.
Seven officers worked as District and Sessions judges in 1954.
Seven officers worked as District ans Sessions judges in 1956.
(4) Eight officers worked as Subordinate judges during the year 1954, 1955 and 1956 and Six of them were invested with powers of Assistant Sessions judge.
(5) 'P' stands for pending at the beginning of the year.
'I' stands for instituted during the year.
'D' stands for disposed of during the year.
'B' stands for pending below one year.
'A' stands for pending over one year.